The America that we knew as the smartest place on the planet is gone with the wind.

Jump into the middle of things, get your hands dirty, fall flat on your face, and then reach for the stars.

The banks are not lending, at least from what I see. They were so wild and reckless back in the good times that they got burned terribly.

There is no sudden leap into the stratosphere... There is only advancing step by step, slowly and tortuously, up the pyramid toward your goals.

I don't believe the most successful people are the ones who got the best grades, got into the best schools, or made the most money.

I'd say the main way people get into terrible financial trouble is just to spend too much money relative to their income, and that is an endemic problem in the United States of America, and that's the kind of thing that should be taught about in schools.

I have always been very diversified, so I have never suffered a catastrophic loss. I spread my money around the way a large institutional investor does. I use different brokerage firms. I manage some of my accounts myself.